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Tragedy and Barriers to Objectivity
In the wake of last Monday’s tragedy in Washington D.C., I have one potentially obvious, yet very important point. We cannot enter the mind of someone else. Neuroscientists can study the brain....
View ArticleChristianity and Positive Liberty
American politics seems to talk about liberty like music talks about love; all the time, and as if it can solve anything. But what is liberty, really? Isaiah Berlin, a recent British political...
View ArticleTruth and Government
The underlying assumption in much of American politics is that government knows best. It is rarely stated explicitly—for reasons of political expediency, no doubt—but therein lies the problem:...
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Snapchat, Instagram, and Beauty
I can’t claim to be immune to every fad or pretend that I don’t partake of anything that decimates attention spans (my freshman summer involved watching every episode of Lost AND Breaking Bad…). But...
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On The Avett Brothers’ New Album: Magpie and the Dandelion
It’ pretty typical to claim that a band evolves over the length of it’s career. But many times these “evolved” bands have simply released a different kind of new album, not gradually adjusted their...
View ArticleMy Trip to the Doctor’s Office
Last week I went to Student Health because I was feeling sick. If you think I’m about to launch into an impassioned critique of bureaucracy, Obamacare, or both, sorry to disappoint. But nonetheless,...
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Baseball Has Philosophy Too
The sport of baseball is replete with philosophically interesting questions. From notions of truth to issues of morality, a baseball game provides us with rich examples from which to argue. There...
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Christianity and the American Dream
Is Christianity compatible with the American Dream? Conservative Christians everywhere struggle (or should struggle) with this question. The problem with the American Dream for Christianity—a...
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Gravity: Sandra Bullock Gets Existential
If you haven’t seen Gravity yet, go see it, then read this post. Here are a few thoughts I had about the film. The tension between technology and nature comes up frequently and in different ways. The...
View ArticleDemocracy in Children: Nature or Nurture
It was time for group-work. We divided the students in my 7th and 8th grade Sunday school class up into four groups and gave them each a section of John 6:22-59. We tasked each group with discussing...
View ArticleThe Game Nobody Wins
Philadelphia has a violence problem. This isn’t groundbreaking. But what is more disturbing is the new form that this violence is taking. The recent appearance of a phenomenon known as “knockout...
View ArticlePassive-Aggressive Punctuation
Periods—as of recently—have attitude. Examine the following two hypothetical text messages: “I’ll be home at 6” and “I’ll be home at 6.” Which one would make you more nervous about the sender’s mood?...
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Women and the Sitcom
Women can be funny. That’s what a new generation of actresses and comedians is setting out to prove, and they’re succeeding. It didn’t always seem this way. For a while, men dominated television...
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Motivation In Christmas Gifts
Toys for Tots, Family Christmas, White Elephant. Each of these involves Christmas gifts. And each involves different motivations. But what exactly makes them different? In her book Meaning in Life...
View ArticleWhat’s Football Got To Do With Gay Marriage?
A few days ago, former NFL punter Chris Kluwe published an article describing the circumstances of his release from the Minnesota Vikings. One of the better punters in the league, he aggressively...
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Second Chances
Americans like to think of themselves as forgiving people, always willing to grant someone a second chance. History demonstrates otherwise. I could cite countless examples of second chances. Michael...
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Girls, Tokenism, and Identity Politics
I have a confession to make. While I’ve never seen an episode of Girls, I have read almost every review of the series. One of the more progressive critics of the series complained about the lack of...
View ArticleTranscendence
In Ecclesiastes, the great Biblical exposition on meaning, Solomon writes that “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find...
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The State of the Union and Anecdotal Evidence
One of the better tactics employed by the Left in recent years involves its use of anecdotes. Why rely on facts—which can sometimes be inconvenient and are almost always boring—when you can tell a...
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Celebrities and Incentives
At the London Olympics, the IRS taxed gold medalists $8,986 for their victory. When Phil Mickelson, an American, won the Scottish Open, he immediately owed the British government more than 60% of his...
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